Desperate rancher and family man Dan Evans (Van Heflin), hit hard by a crippling drought, is offered a generous bounty to escort outlaw leader Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) by train to Yuma, where he is scheduled to stand trial for a holdup and a killing. Lying in wait at the train station to ambush Evans and escape with Wade are the remaining members of Wade's gang. As the polite, suave, unflappable outlaw leader, Glenn Ford delivers a career-defining performance. Ignored by the American Academy voters, this taut western classic, based on a story by Elmore Leonard, earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Picture in 1957.